About Us

From Our Director

OCEP is an important part of the USF community and the Tampa Bay region, and we are
delighted you have visited our page to learn more about the work that we do. Our purpose, quite simply, is to help connect faculty and students to learning opportunities in the community, and to help
those in our community identify the resources on our campus that can enable them to
further their goals. We define our "community" broadly—after all, USF students and
faculty are engaged in research and learning all over the globe. But our primary focus
is likely to be in our own very large "backyard"—the Tampa Bay community in which
most of us live and work.

Since our inception, OCEP has made great strides in institutionalizing engaged research
and learning on the USF campus. These accomplishments were duly recognized when USF
was designated a Carnegie Engaged University, recognized for Outreach and Partnerships,
as well as Curricular Engagement.

We look forward to hearing from faculty, students and community leaders about how
the OCEP can best fulfill its mission of "expanding local and global initiatives that
strengthen and sustain healthy communities, promoting social justice, and helping
improve the quality of life for all."